Kurdish Fighters Killed in Iran

The Annual Herzliyah Conference at the IDC University ended with a flurry of political statements Thursday evening, perhaps none more dramatic than an announcement by recently deposed Defense Minister Moshe ‘Bogie’ Ya’alon that he plans on challenging his long-time boss Benjamin Netanyahu for the Premiership in the next election. A statement from the Likud accused Ya’alon of blatant political opportunism.

An accusation that Israel had purposefully cut water supplies to several West Bank Palestinian villages was reported by several large international news agencies this week and widely repeated on social media before Israeli authorities were able to respond. Some of the reporting agencies later published the Israeli explanation that a broken pipe had led to a temporary shortage but had quickly been repaired and water supplies restored, but several Israeli analysts lamented that a new canard about Israel withholding water from the Palestinians appears to have been born and will probably linger for years to come.

Official news agencies in Iran reported Thursday that heavy fighting between government forces and Kurdish militias in the northwest near the border with the  Kurdish region of northern Iraq had killed 15 people, the latest in an escalating spillover of the multi-faceted conflict. Meanwhile, the EU announced Thursday it is allowing Iran Air to resume flights to EU countries as part of the general lifting of sanctions on the Islamic Republic following last year’s JCPOA nuclear agreement.

Fighting was reported Thursday between units loyal to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Lebanese Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah, possibly igniting yet another dimension of the multi-faceted conflict. The clashes, which reportedly included regime aircraft bombing Hezbollah positions, erupted following a sharp disagreement between senior commanders from the two ostensibly allied forces over tactics to battle their many mutual enemies.

Another ugly confrontation occurred Thursday at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City between a crowd of Jewish worshippers from the Reform and Conservative movements who were attempting to hold what they described as an “egalitarian prayer service” and a much larger crowd of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people who gathered to oppose them. The melee included many insults hurled back and forth and some shoving. The incident was the latest in a series of contentious events surrounding efforts to find a solution for different Jewish groups to share the Western Wall area.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski became the latest world leader to ignore efforts to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel when he arrived in Jerusalem this week, declaring his intention to, among other things, seek Israel’s help in improving the quality of life for Polish citizens. Also this week, a delegation of specialists from the World Bank wrapped up a trip to Israel during which they studied ways to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education worldwide.